| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | K. Reinmuth |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 10 October 1931 |
| Designations | |
| (1232) Cortusa | |
| Pronunciation | /kɔːrˈtjuːsə/[2] |
Named after | Cortusa[3] (flowering plant) |
| 1931 TF2 · 1930 OH | |
| main-belt[1][4] · (outer) background[5][6] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 88.16yr (32,200 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.6109AU |
| Perihelion | 2.7535 AU |
| 3.1822 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1347 |
| 5.68 yr (2,073 d) | |
| 279.34° | |
| 0° 10m 24.96s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.362° |
| 261.21° | |
| 340.44° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 33.13±2.3 km[7] 36.367±0.463 km[8][9] 36.60±9.07 km[10] 39.17±11.98 km[11] 42.015±0.259 km[12] 42.20±1.11 km[13] 43.27±0.82 km[14] | |
| 25.16±0.02 h[15] | |
| 0.072[14] 0.0833[12] 0.085[13] 0.120[8][11] 0.1339[7] 0.14[10] | |
| X(SDSS-MOC)[16] | |
| 10.20[7][8][11][12][13] 10.3[1][4] 10.35[10] | |
1232 Cortusa, provisional designation1931 TF2, is a backgroundasteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 10 October 1931, by astronomerKarl Reinmuth at theHeidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.[1] TheX-type asteroid has arotation period of 25.2 hours.[17] It was named after the plantCortusa and indirectly honors astronomerGustav Stracke.[3]
Cortusa is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population.[5][6] It orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.8–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,073 days;semi-major axis of 3.18 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.13 and aninclination of 10° with respect to theecliptic.[4] The body'sobservation arc begins with its first observation as1930 OH atJohannesburg Observatory in July 1930, or 15 months prior to its official discovery observation atHeidelberg.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after the flowering plantCortusa, a species of plant inthe primrose family. The officialnaming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 114).[3] It honors German astronomer and diligent orbit computerGustav Stracke (1887–1943), who had asked that no asteroid be named after him. The initials of the asteroids1227 through1234, all discovered byKarl Reinmuth, spell out "G. Stracke". In this manner, Reinmuth was able to circumvent Stracke's desire and honor him nevertheless. The asteroid1019 Strackea was later named after Stracke directly.[18] In the 1990s, astronomerBrian Marsden was also honored by this method, see asteroids5694 to5699. The consecutive initial letters of these minor-planet names spell out "MarsdenB".[19]
Due to his many discoveries,Karl Reinmuth submitted a large list of 66 newly named asteroids in the early 1930s. The list covered his discoveries with numbers between(1009) and(1200). This list also contained a sequence of 28 asteroids, starting with1054 Forsytia, that were all named after plants, in particularflowering plants(also see list of minor planets named after animals and plants).[20]
In theSDSS-based taxonomy,Cortusa is anX-type asteroid.[5][16]
In August 2004, a rotationallightcurve ofCortusa was obtained fromphotometric observations by French amateur astronomerPierre Antonini. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of25.16±0.02 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.10magnitude (U=2).[15] Other period determinations were made byRené Roy (<10 h) in December 2006 (U=1),[15] and by the Spanish OBAS group (22.05 h) in June 2016 (U=2-).[21]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Cortusa measures between 33.13 and 43.27 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.07 and 0.14.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1226 and a diameter of 33.05 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 10.3.[17]
